Uzokwe's Searchlight


Nigerian politicians are already noted for their "do-nothing disposition". Now that elections are around the corner, they have found an even better reason to continue their somnolence.
Monday, February 3, 2003


Alfred Obiora Uzokwe
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WHY DIASPORANS MAY NOT RETURN TO NIGERIA?

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n Super bowl night, I watched the game along with other Nigerians, in the home of the president of the Nigerian Society of South Central Pennsylvania. I love these gatherings, not particularly for the sake of the football, which I am not much of a fan of, but because it always gives me an opportunity to meet, commune with and chat with Nigerians about a whole gamut of issues ranging from the situation in Nigeria to current affairs all over the world. I always come away from such gatherings and discussions richer in knowledge and I salute my colleagues in the Nigerian Society- John, Amechi, Louis, Kingsley, Emile, Ralph, Sam, Tony and others.

On this night, every expectation of mine was met; we talked about politics in Nigeria; we discussed the multiplicity of presidential candidates and the seemingly endless and multitudinous problems that Nigeria continues to grapple with. Some, who were genuinely interested in the football game, occasionally punctuated our discussions with sighs of disappointment at the performance of the Oakland Raiders but I was intent on pressing on with current affairs in Nigeria.

It was a well-rounded gathering; some families that had visited Nigeria over the Christmas holiday were on hand to talk about their experience. They gave accounts of what they saw and felt. One of my contemporaries narrated how he spent his vacation peacefully in the village for the three weeks he was there. He however expressed disappointment at a daring armed attack he witnessed along Mile Two, Lagos, on the day of his departure from Nigeria. On that day, he was in a vehicle headed for the Murtala Muhammed Airport. There was a giant pothole along the highway, causing every motorist to slow down to snail speed in order to meander around the pothole. Suddenly, as one of the vehicles slowed down to take its turn at negotiating around the pothole, all hell broke loose! Armed bandits alighted from another vehicle and with guns blazing, took control of the vehicle. There was pandemonium. As this scenario was unfolding, the robbers were discharging rounds of ammunitions into the air and people were scampering for safety in all directions.

My friend managed to extricate himself from the chaotic scene of people bumping into one another as they ran for safety, but by the time he got to the airport, he had become soaked and covered with dust and grease. In his words, "nobody who saw me would believe that I was headed back to the United States, covered in sweat and grease". At the airport, on seeing his blue American passport, an immigration officer quipped, "una no wan come home come help develop Nigeria". My friend answered by narrating the ordeal he had just experienced along Mile Two and asked the Immigration official why Diasporans should return, when a simple three week visit nearly ended in tragedy at Mile Two for him. The incident cannot be described as isolated because it happens on a daily basis in Lagos and other parts of Nigeria.

The story became a sober reminder to every Nigerian, watching the Super Bowl game in that room, that the security situation in Nigeria was not getting any better even as our elected officials were cruising around in motorcades, oblivious of the travails of the common man. As we continued to watch the Oakland Raiders throw away opportunities, just like Nigeria continues to miss opportunities to embrace her probable destiny of greatness, one of the Nigerians in the room lamented the fact that he feels safe in the United States but was always on the edge every time he visited the land of his birth because of the security situation. He added that after the Super Bowl game, he could decide to drive to Philadelphia that night, a distance of about 100 miles, without worrying about armed robbers but could not venture out in Lagos after 6:00pm, without worrying about robbers. He wondered why the Nigerian government had not made serious efforts to curb the upsurge in crime, especially armed robbery? Clearly, he is not alone in his concern about security in Nigeria.

In a recent Guardian opinion poll of 1200 Nigerians from across 24 states and 6-geopolitical zones, respondents were asked about the security situation in Nigeria. A total of 495 respondents or 41.3% said security was weak while 542 or 45.2% said it was very weak. This means that about 86.5% of Nigerians see security as weak; it means that majority of Nigerians are living in fear! In a civil society, this would be a major source of concern to the people at the helm of affairs, but in Nigeria's situation, our rulers do not care. They do not care because they are shielded by motorcades every time they venture out and protected by well-paid bodyguards in their homes.

Stories of the mayhem that armed hoodlums have been causing abound. They waylay and kill innocent passengers traveling from the east to Lagos or vice versa. They invade banks in Lagos, killing anyone that challenges them and making away with various sums of money. During the last week of January, ten armed bandits invaded the Imo Transport Company in Owerri, inflicting various degrees of injuries on the guards while making away with cash and money worth over 2 million naira [Vanguard, January 28, 2003]. The frightening thing is that they now travel in large numbers and in that way, they overwhelm and intimidate guards, frighten off innocent citizens and send the police scampering for safety. Just recently, a gang of robbers killed the Manager of Ikoro- Ekiti branch of the cooperative Bank because he refused to give them the key to the stronghold [This Day News, January 26, 2003] This is just to mention a few of the incidents.

Safety has become the number two concern in Nigeria, second only to the economy. I have met Nigerians here who are leery about traveling to Nigeria during Christmas festivities because of safety reasons. A fellow Nigerian, from Nnewi, recently told me point blank that in January of 2002, he started planning to visit Nigeria but since the disbanding of the Bakassi boys in Anambra state and the attendant upsurge in armed robbery, he decided to cancel the journey. It is an irony that one has to be scared of visiting the country of one's birth. Home should normally be a place filled with peace of mind but Nigeria has been turned by armed robbers into a place of fear. The most disconcerting part is that Nigerian leaders do not seem to get it. They sit in their Ivory towers, calling on Nigerians in the Diaspora to return or calling on foreigners to come and invest in Nigeria, without equally taking pragmatic steps to allay the fears of foreign investors and Diasporans. Sometimes I wonder if these politicians ever read the news? If the answer is yes, do they read the sections that talk about the many deaths at the hands of men of the underworld? If the answer is also yes, do they feel they have an obligation to institute all necessary measures to beef up security of lives and property? Is it not clear to them that without security, most Diasporans would not return and most foreign investors would not come?

A couple of days ago, a news report quoted General Obasanjo as calling on Doctors of Nigerian extraction in the Diaspora, to return home and help Nigeria in the medical sector. This is a noble call but the president is not doing first things first. He should first take drastic steps to make Nigeria safe and then follow it by calling on Diasporans and foreign investors to come. There are many Nigerian professionals who would go back in a heart bit if the security situation was not this dismal.

I have heard people say that Diasporans are crying wolf when they talk about the threat of robbers in Nigeria. They argue that people are still living in Nigeria and have not all died at the hands of robbers. That may be true, but it is not a secret that common Nigerians are being killed daily. The only reason why armed robbery has not been declared a national epidemic is that it is mainly the common man that is being targeted and killed; he does not live in fortresses, does not have bodyguards, does not move about in motorcades and so is very much accessible to men of the underworld. There are several armed robbery incidents that never make the news headlines. Even when they do, the names of victims are rarely mentioned and so the story never has the human face it requires in order to elicit sympathy or action. Headlines like, "Five killed by armed robbers in Ikeja today" do not evoke any meaningful sentiments and so it never becomes politically expedient for our elected leaders to act.

Most armed robbery incidents on Nigerian highways are carried out near potholes. It is no secret that Nigerian roads are characterized by the presence of ubiquitous potholes. These robbers know that motorists would slow down for potholes and so they stage their nefarious activities there. A responsive government would immediately rehabilitate the roads and stop providing help, albeit unwittingly, to robbers. I once wrote an essay on how the highway construction program in Nigeria could be revamped to minimize or eliminate potholes. One wonders if our politicians even have pothole elimination as part of their agenda?

Potholes have also been identified as culprits in several deadly accidents that have occurred on Nigerian roads. Unsuspecting motorists chance onto them and because they have very little time to react, they swerve and sometimes get into fatal accidents. Statistics attributing many highway accidents to the presence of potholes should be sufficient reason for infusion of money into the highway construction industry but do our politicians care? You be the judge.

Another problem that has militated against stemming the tide of crime is that the policemen and women, who we rely on for our safety, are still not remunerated well enough to become as dedicated as they should be. Diasporans, who visited Nigeria over the Christmas holiday, reported that some policemen at check points, still ask for "kola" from motorists. As much as I do not encourage bribery, I think that their continued plea for "kola", is indicative of the fact that they are still unable to make ends meet with their meager salaries. In one of my previous commentaries, I noted that if our police men and women were well paid and given excellent benefits, and if the families of those who fall in the line of duty are well taken care of, they would be willing to risk their lives for Nigeria in pursuing and rooting out robbers. It is a pity that they are still underpaid; no wonder why in several instances of armed robbery, the police arrived only after the operation was done!

It is more troubling that some police men and women have even been incriminated in cases of aiding robbers or extortion. Not too long ago, a cache of arms and ammunition was discovered in Sambisa Games Reserve in Borno state. Two policemen were identified as supplying the arms to hoodlums [Guardian, January 28, 2003] In Lagos state, 30 policemen are currently on trial for extortion in Lagos [Guardian, January 25, 2003] It is regrettable that those who should be ensuring the security of lives and property, are sometimes the ones that aid and abet threats to lives and property. General Obasanjo and the governors must clean up the mess before calling on foreign investors and Diasporans to come to Nigeria. That is the prudent thing to do.

Nigerian politicians are already noted for their "do-nothing disposition". Now that elections are around the corner, they have found an even better reason to continue their somnolence. They all seem to be on hiatus from governance. Electioneering campaigns have taken over. Most of them have no visible accomplishments that would earn them honest re-election so they now engage in enticing the poor masses with money. Just imagine the amount of money that changed hands during the PDP fundraiser? We all know that the money would be used to bribe the electorate into submission, yet, it is difficult to believe that the money was flowing from the pockets of governors of states where teachers' salaries are not paid, where the kids do not have school supplies, where poverty is biting down hard, where law enforcement agents still use "cock and shoot" guns to face Uzi-wielding brigands and where unemployment has hit an all-time high. From where did the PDP governors get the money they donated to Obasanjo's war chest? Are they paid that much or were they all millionaires before they got into office? That issue must be investigated. All the money they paraded could be pulled together and used to help our police force win the fight against crime and thereby make the country conducive for Diasporans, foreign investors and all Nigerians alike. Instead of doing that, they are shamelessly parading the money all over the place. It is a pity that the Nigerian electorate does not vote for politicians based on merit otherwise, come April, many incumbents will be sent packing and there would be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

HERE I STAND!